Held in His hand

Early this spring, I did not blog—not much. Life was a little like riding in a raft on a river with many exciting waterfalls and then suddenly there was one major tsunami.

This huge blow was the death of my husband's son, Andy. Andy left behind a wife and four children. This has been a very sad time for our family. Susan and the family are learning to take one step at a time. We are thankful for family and friends and a God that loves us.


I want to recount a few of the things that Andy’s pastor, Jeff Frasier, said at the memorial service. This is not the whole of his message neither is it verbatim. It did encourage our family as we process this terrible loss.

Andy had given his heart to Jesus. The greatest tragedy of Andy’s death was that he lost sight of that hope. Sin and darkness clouded his vision and he could not clearly see how much he was loved—by all of us at the service and much more by God. Just because Andy gave up on life, does not mean that God gave up on Andy.

As Romans 8 says, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is not our grip on God that is our hope; it is the strength of His grip on us.

God is faithful. He pursues us. His light shines. He comforts us and He sacrificed Himself for us. Through Him we have victory over the power of sin and death.

As Jesus said to Mary in John 11, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

We grieve but not as those that have no hope.